ENDURANCE & SPORTS NUTRITION PODCASTS

How to Endure a long day

The Endure Sports Drink is one of the most versatile products in the 32Gi range. With this in mind, David Katz askes Mark Wolff, on this episode of 32Gi Sports Nutrition, about the benefits of taking it on a regular basis. Is it an option for everyday life, not just for exercising? While water is very much the source of life, is Endure a better option than a soda, when you need a blood sugar boost? Hear this and more…

Thanks for joining us once again on 32Gi Sports Nutrition, Mark Wolff joining me on the line, I’m Mr Active, David Katz. We talk all things nutrition, most commonly of course, sports nutrition is a hot topic. One of the product ranges that 32Gi have that I personally use, almost daily, if not daily at the moment, being a parent, working, trying to handle exercising at the same time; is the Endure drink and the Endure tablets.

I find it really does help with concentration and it picks those energy levels up. Mark, that’s what I wanted to ask you. Because people are going out and buying sodas and these things that are full of sugars and supposed energy drinks that are full of sugars, but Endure is not.

It’s not going to spike you and drop you, it’s going to keep you at this level you want to be. That your blood sugar is at a higher level for a while and before it then of course drops. Because nothing will keep you going forever. But the Endure drink itself is a great drink to have just during the day, not even necessarily when you’re exercising?

Mark Wolff: Well, I think there’s a few ways to look at this Dave and that’s that first of all, let me just explain what our Endure drink is in order that people do understand. That is that we actually utilise a unique carbohydrate which is called isomaltulose and it just breaks down in a 1:1 glucose to fructose molecule. That basically causes a sort of slower release and slower rise in blood sugar levels over a longer period of time.

What goes up, must come down?

It’s not a new carbohydrate, it’s been on the market I think since the 70’s. But it’s never really been utilised properly, I suppose in sports nutrition. Because people have always been, like you say, advocating spike the blood sugar and spike the blood sugar. But you know with every spike comes a big drop and that’s something we try to avoid.

I think with somebody that’s not performing in extremely high intensity, that might be slightly active or that wants blood sugar stability. Endure does make an absolutely perfect drink. Another thing that I do like about it is that it’s non-cariogenic.

In other words, the carbohydrate does not cause tooth decay, like any normal sugar would. However, if you look at a tub of Endure, the carbohydrate isomaltulose because it is a disaccharide, it actually is classified as a sugar. But sugars come in so many different varieties and forms. So when people see the word ‘sugar’ it’s not something that should scare a person away.

If you think about it, when I was a kid, I used to eat raw cane sugar. That’s raw sugar in its unprocessed, most natural form. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s extremely bad, it’s just a more natural form. I think that’s what you need to look at; is that what kind of sugar it is, how natural it is? In other words, what the process is and also how it’s going to impact your blood sugar levels. Because you get quite a varying amount of sugars on the market and each one will impact you slightly differently.

Fructose is obviously one of those that’s being utilised as a replacement. Why? Because it doesn’t have high GI at all. But the problem with fructose is it doesn’t provide you any energy either, it actually just drops you off. There is a legislation in actual fact at the moment and that’s if the product has got a certain percentage of fructose in it, you’re actually not allowed to label the product as a low GI product. Because fructose is just not something that’s acceptable for stabilising those blood sugar levels.

The benefit of a slow release carbohydrate

It’s very interesting. I think people have been given this big scare about sugar but they don’t understand how different sugars impact the body differently. In the form of Endure, it’s very simple, whatever the serving is, if it’s 15g or higher, a serving of isomaltulose, it actually releases over around a 2-3 hour period. It does stabilise the blood sugar. Obviously if your blood sugar is stabilised you feel less hungry and you’re able to focus a lot better. It’s just one of those things.

However, if you obviously have just a simple sugar drink which is going to spike you and drop your blood glucose quite quickly; then what will happen is that you will feel good. Then you’re going to feel bad quite suddenly and it’s not something that you want to give any child or even any adult in any environment. Because it just means that they’re going to need to consume more and more and more frequently and that’s something that we try to avoid.

I do need to state that even though we’re talking about Endure as a decent drink to have to stabilise blood sugar, there is nothing that we advocate more than water. Water is obviously the foundation of anything, that’s just what your body is made up of. So, it really utilises the blood sugar stabiliser.

I think it’s just a matter of deciding how your day is going to look. Whether you need it or not. Obviously you need to try and follow the healthiest route possible. But over and above water or just a plain hydration drink which has just got minerals in and no carbohydrates. I would say that Endure is probably the next best option. In other words, taking in a carbohydrate drink is not going to impact you negatively.

Getting a cold (are energy drinks helpful)?

DK: Mark, what about when someone is sick, they’re starting to feel a bit flat, they might have flu or a cold coming on. I know a lot of people do then like energy drinks, something that can just boost their system. Of course you’d throw some Vitamin C in there. But just boost your system a bit extra, would you recommend that Endure could be something utilised for that as well?

MW: It’s interesting you say that and I tell this to many athletes and many people. That when you’re feeling the onset of flu symptoms or you’re feeling ill, your body does get sugar cravings. Those are interesting messages that the brain is receiving. You’ve heard that term ‘starve a flu’ or ‘starve a cold’ and they’re not saying starve yourself and don’t eat. They’re actually saying feed yourself things that aren’t going to feed the bad guys.

However, taking in carbohydrate which break down into glucose do feed the bad guys. I actually, if I was going to have flu, I wouldn’t take that as a drink. If you’ve got a stomach bug and you’re feeling flat from that then yes. That’s definitely an option to rehydrate you and definitely stabilise your blood sugar and keep you feeling energetic.

But I think it depends on the illness and in the case of flu, I would rather go for more of a protein/fat diet as opposed to putting any major carbs into the diet. Because the body is craving the carbs but when you feed yourself the carbohydrates and they do break down into glucose. You’re actually going to start to feed the bad guys as well. Sometimes that can lead to them strengthening and causing onset of illness for a lot longer than you would want to happen.

How Endure is safe for your kids to use

DK: Very interesting point you’ve made there. Mark, I touched on it in a previous podcast as well about children and the product. Maybe being a good thing for them to use at school during the day or more importantly, maybe just before they go and do their school sports. Of course we said hydration is very important, just drinking water. But would Endure also be a good thing for kids and what age would you recommend it from?

MW: Look, the drink is completely natural in make-up, there’s no sweeteners in there, no non-nutritive sweeteners in there, there’s no unnatural colours in there, there’s no unnatural flavours in there. It’s a completely naturally made up drink. The carbohydrates are also naturally derived and they’re non-genetically modified as well. It’s completely vegan so I would say any child over the age of four could consume it. But again, my take on any kind of a drink like this is that it is a supplement to a healthy diet.

We mentioned water as being first but if a child is active and they do need that little bit of a push. In other words from taking in some sort of a supplement. Then I’d say yes, that is definitely the healthiest way to go. If a child is going to go for a soda or something that’s very high in sugar, that’s cariogenic, that does cause tooth decay, that does cause blood sugar spiking, that’s even quite addictive as well; I would say please, rather avoid that, Endure is a brilliant drink. It’s also one of those things that can be made up and pre-frozen and stored for a while, it doesn’t even go off and from that perspective for an active child I’d say it’s absolutely fantastic.

DK: Mark Wolff thank you very much again. If you want to find out more about the Endure product range, if you don’t know it, I’ll put the link up to the 32Gi.com website. Also if you have any questions that you’d like to pose to Mark Wolff and the team at 32Gi, all you need to do is email coach@32gi.com. That’s it from us today; do join us again on the 32Gi Sports Nutrition podcast.